Playback random stops (2 Viewers)

[BigWhoop]

Hi guys,
iam using Mediaportal 1 many many years now. But since 2 years i have a strange problem that i cant figured out.
Randomly the playback stops and iam back in the series menu. When i click on start again, he asked if i want to go further on with my episode.
I tried a lot of things. Mainboard, CPU, RAM changes in that time. I upgraded from win10 to win11. I installed the newest version auf mediaportal
and plugins. I used the new LAV Filters. Bought a new Server and a new 2,5 Gbit nic but nothing changes that problem.
The problem doesnt apeer on every episode. Its possible that i can few 4 in a row and nothing happens. And the next time i start mediaportal
it will be on the first episode. Do someone of you have a hint oder troubleshot for me? Its really annoying.

Best and thanks for your time,
Stefan

 

[CyberSimian]

Randomly the playback stops and iam back in the series menu. When i click on start again, he asked if i want to go further on with my episode.

I don't know the cause of your problem, but the following setting might be causing it; check that this setting is disabled:



-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[BigWhoop]

You are a genius! Thats it. Dont know why this was enabled. But the next question is: Why does the audio renderer change .... but i think this can be closed. Thanks CyberSimian!

 

[joecrow]

I am not aware of any positive benefits of having this setting enabled but regular and often obscure problems problems occur if it is NOT disabled!
I have on several occasions requested the default setting be changed to disabled going back I think to MP 1.20 but here we and the problems are still happening.
@ge2301 is there any chance the default for this setting could be changed to disabled for MP 1.31?

 

[ge2301]

I am not aware of any positive benefits of having this setting enabled but regular and often obscure problems problems occur if it is NOT disabled!
I have on several occasions requested the default setting be changed to disabled going back I think to MP 1.20 but here we and the problems are still happening.
@ge2301 is there any chance the default for this setting could be changed to disabled for MP 1.31?

For MP1 and TVE I'm not involved. The change should be possible, but one of your devs needs to commit that. I've see @framug made some changes to TVE lately, maybe he can help.

 

[joecrow]

For MP1 and TVE I'm not involved. The change should be possible, but one of your devs needs to commit that. I've see @framug made some changes to TVE lately, maybe he can help.

Sorry got the wrong person, I guess @doskabouter or @ajs would be a better choice?

 

[CyberSimian]

Why does the audio renderer change

I don't know why the audio renderer appears to change, but one possibility is that this is a result of the so-called "silent stream bug" (this phrase is widely used on the internet).

Some digital to analogue converters (DACs) switch themselves to a lower-power state if they do not receive a digital signal for more than some number of milliseconds. The problem is that they can then take longer to wake up when they do detect a signal. My Sony TV is like this, causing the start of all button sound effects in MP to be missing (I hear only the end of the sound effect). This makes button sound effects unusable on my system . It is possible that if the DAC remains in the low-power state long enough, MP detects this as a removal of the audio renderer, and stops playback (if that setting is enabled).

Another possibility is that a change in the nature of the digital data (for example, changing from stereo audio to Dolby 5.1 audio) requires a switch to a different audio renderer, and it is this temporary removal of the audio renderer that MP detects. (This is just a guess.)

I am glad that the change in the setting fixed your problem.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[CyberSimian]

I am not aware of any positive benefits of having this setting enabled

I don't know what the thinking was when this setting was introduced, but my speculation is that the setting was introduced for those users who "switch off" their HTPC with live TV still playing.

My custom is to exit the MP client and return to the Windows desktop before sleeping or hibernating my system. I do that because I think that it is less likely to lead to problems or unwanted behaviour. But some (many?) users leave the MP client running when they sleep their system. The problem is: what happens if they leave live TV playing?

When video is played (live TV, recorded TV, other video), the Windows system is put into a state where the system is prevented from sleeping or hibernating. So if the user "switches off" his system (TV switched off, and the HTPC changed to away mode), Windows will keep the system awake for the remainder of eternity.

With the "Stop playback on removal of an audio renderer" setting enabled, MP will detect the TV (or AV amplifier) being switched off, and stop playback. This then allows Windows to sleep the system after the relevant timeout has expired.

I actually have the same problem with my system. Although I usually exit MP before "switching off" my system, very occasionally I will switch off the system with video still playing. In the past this has prevented my system hibernating. So to avoid that I use an AutoHotKey script to send a sequence of MP keyboard shortcuts when my system wants to hibernate. The sequence of commands starts with STOP to stop playback, and ends with selecting "Exit MediaPortal" on MP's "Shutdown" pop-up.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[joecrow]

When video is played (live TV, recorded TV, other video), the Windows system is put into a state where the system is prevented from sleeping or hibernating. So if the user "switches off" his system (TV switched off, and the HTPC changed to away mode), Windows will keep the system awake for the remainder of eternity.

On my setup I normally do not close MP before putting the HTPC to sleep but I do stop all videos. If I leave a video or the TV playing (on top) it still does go to sleep (have not tried hibernation) without problem however on resume from sleep MP is hung with the screen showing a full screen frozen image from the TV program or video that had been playing and MP can only be closed via the Task Manager. This behaviour occurs regardless of the state of the "Stop playback on removal of an audio renderer" setting. I have tested this multiple times with the setting both enabled and disabled.

 

[CyberSimian]

If I leave a video or the TV playing (on top) it still does go to sleep (have not tried hibernation) without problem

Interesting! Do you use away mode? I have not tested the different combinations of settings, but perhaps away mode is enough to tell Windows that the user is no longer using the local system, and this allows Windows to force the video to stop playing and sleep the system (provided it is not being used by another system on the local network).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK